I think the problem with d20 is that while it is a very workable system for D&D, it is not the open-source answer to every campaign setting, nor every game. In fact, it is pretty piss poor at nearly everything I've seen it used for with the exception of D&D or Fantasy Type settings. And I think it basically boils down to combat every time: D&D combat is an abstraction. Each round does not represent a single attack, but all of you maneuvering, parrying etc and the roll represents whether or not all of that was good enough to actually hurt your opponent. In those 6 seconds you can only decide a very small portion of what to do: Move, try to attack, defend, etc. Combat is supposed to be epic and full of non lethal hits... Deadlands combat is fast & furious with bullets flying everywhere. Bullets are deadly. The style is different. No matter how experienced you are, one shot could end your life. In addition you get to choose very specifically what you are going to do in those 6 seconds. It is not an abstraction. It gives a very different feel to the game. Trying to translate that into and epic struggle full of near misses and flesh wounds WILL change the way playing Deadlands feels. If you don't like this, stick with the old rules. Also keep in mind that Deadlands d20 is marketed not at seasoned Veterans of the Weird West, but to newbies, who aren't familiar with the system and therefore don't have the expectation of extremely deadly combat that we have. It's a chance to introduce the setting without the burden of new rules. Then once they're hooked, you convert! I'm going to buy it, if for no other reason than I think d20's got a good line on Encounter Challenge ratings and with a little math I can use the d20 stuff to guestimate the "level" of my Deadlands posse and avoid the constant, overchallenging or underchallenging adventures I wind up running. my 2 cents The Wanderer
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